Liquid fuel burner



C. G. NOBBS July 22, i952 LIQUID FUEL BURNER- z Simms-SHEET 2 Filed Nov. 1:5. 1948 Z v Z m m y Patented July 22, v1952 Application November 13, 19.48; Serial. No. 59,898 f In Great Britain NovemberIY, 1947 "5 Claims. (C1.v 674-68):

.Ih'efpresentinvention relatesA to a liquid fuel I burner vof' the kind comprising a plurality of wicks, eachV mounted in a tube secured at its lower end to a circular plate and at its upper end sliding within a sleeve member, the latterbeing provide'dwith. orices, each of which serves for,

thejpassageof the upper end of a wick, 'and means j being .provided 'for :raising or loweringall the 'wicks simultaneously.4 v

Oneiobject of this'invention is the provision of means whereby all the wicks can be ignited simultaneously.

For this purpose the circular row ofA wicks is surrounded 'by va circular strip of absorbent material' that makes y.contact with and absorbs fuel from each of the wicks. If one ofthe wicks is ignited, the fuel in the absorbent strip is also ignited, thus producing a short-lived circular dame that causes almost simultaneously ignition of all the wicks. The short life of this circular flame is due to the fact that the flame ash on l'irstlighting the wicks exhausts the oil in the absorbent material so that the flame dies' out rapidly. The absorbent material'isin'point contact only with the wicks, and when the latter are alight-there .is insufficient contact with them to feed vthe `absorbent material vcontinuously to maintain a iiame.

y According to a further feature of this invention means are provided whereby char or corrosion trom the upper ends of the wicks can be removed from all the wicks simultaneously.

To achieve this result a scraping or cutting ring Iconcentric with the circular absorbent strip is'tted within the upper `partof the burner, the strip participating in the movements of the ring. The. inner edge of this ring, to Which-a rotary movement can be applied, is provided with a cutting edge, and also with spaced arcuate recesses which partially surround the tops of the wicks. If an angular movement of small amplitude is applied to this ring, which is preferably of metal, the charred or corroded tops of the wicks will be simultaneously severed.

According to another feature of this invention there is provided a device for clamping the wicks in the tubes previously mentioned. This device is in the form of a strip or thread of some readily destructible material, which is indented at spaced intervals, and wound spirally around the exterior of the wick. The destructible thread is melted or consumed by the flame of the wick, but remains intact and operative along the unburnt portion of the wick. When it is desired to raise a Wick, tension is manually applied to the latter forv igniting the wicks.

which fisthus slightly stretched, .thus rdecreasing the diameter of the .'indentedvcoil, freeing the indentations .from,.contact with the ,wall ofthe tube,an`d-allowing of an upward movement .of a

. wickad'f .on the-otherfhand a wick is to be clamped in position,fthe.wick is compressed, vthus increasingthe `diameter ofthe spiral which in consequenceclosely engage the wall of the tube. A 'Phe ,tubesare conveniently indented 'to' coop-A erate -with the-spirally wound thread upstanding from the wick. The purpose of thisv isto facilitate the introductionof a wick'intoits tube,..and

also the withdrawal .of a 'worn Wick.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view of a wick and wick tube,

rFig. VVl is f a, detailY view devicarand. y

Vis-ari-.enlarged section showing Vthe device Referring .first to Figs. l` and `2, a 4is arlowerv circular platform which-is vertically 4`movable vand to whichare-.secured a number of -equidistantly spacedv tubesbreach housinga wick c. and being surrounded at its upper part lby a sleeve d. The latter are secured atftheir lower ends to an upper fixed platform e provided with a depending.

flange 1. and secured to the burner oil reservoir. Attheir upper ends the sleeves are secured to a fixed `annular -trough y. An intermediate yplat-- for-nigh is located between the platforms a. and r`e, this platforml being traversedby vertical pillars 'i partly housed -insleeves 7c secured to the plat` forme-and being vertically movable by means of arrack-Z secured tothe platform hv and-a pinion m mounted on a horizontal shaft n and thumbpiece o, the pinion m rotating in a housing upstanding from the platform e.

The annular trough g is provided with circular holes p for the passage of the wicks, and the wick tubes can be raised and lowered relatively to the annular trough by means of a vertical rack q secured at its lower end to the platform a and a pinion r operated by a shaft s and thumb piece t. The parts so far described are of known construction.

According to this invention circular strip u of absorbent material surrounds the wicks, and makes contact with an absorbs oil from each of them. With this arrangement, if one of the wicks is ignited by hand, the remaining wicks are rapidly ignited by the strip u which provides a 'ot a wick-clamping short-lived flame. The strip u is concentric with a scraping or cutting ring v which is manually rotatable through the medium of slots w in the cutting ring 'U and collars :l: on tcp of the pillars g'. 'Ihis ring v is L-shaped in section and is provided on its horizontal part with inner edges u' and spaced arcuate recesses v2 that surround the tops of the` wicks, theportions v serving, if a small angular movement is imparted to the ring v, to remove the charred or corroded tops of the Wicks. The slots w in the ring 'v are held by the collars x on top of the pillars y' as shown in Figure 5. f The ring u is adjusted in height by means of the intermediate platform h operated by the rack l, pinion m, shaft n and thumb piece o.

According to a further feature of this inven` tion means are provided for clamping the wicks c in their tubes b. Each clamping device is in the form of a strip or thread y of some readily. destructiblematerial such as nylon, which is corrugated or indented at intervals as shown in Figure 4, and which vis wound spirally around a Wick as 'shownin Figs. 2 and 3. ,When it is desired to raise a wide tension is applied to the latter which is thus slightly stretched, thus decreasing the radius of the spiral, freeing the indentations from contact with the walls of the wick tubes, and allowing of upward movement of the wicks. If on theother hand a wick is to be clamped in position, such wick is compressed thus increasing the radius of the spiral which in consequence closely engages the wall of the tube.

In order to facilitate the introduction of a wick intoor its withdrawal from` a tube, the latter is internally indented at z, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 to cooperate with a spirally wound thread upstanding from the wick.l

I claim: v

1. A liquid fuel burner comprising a plurality of tubes each housing a wick, a platform on which the tubes are mounted at their lower ends in an annular row, a plurality of sleeve members in each of whichr is slidable the upper end of one of the said tubes, an annular trough secured upon thefupper endsv of the sleeve members, the latter `openinginto the base of the trough to admit thereto the'tops of the Wicks, means for raising and lowering the platform to raise and lower thetops of the wicks in the annular trough, an annular strip of absorbent material within the annular trough and in point contact with the tops of the wicks for absorbing fuel therefrom, and a cutting ring mounted for rotation within the trough and having cutting edges laterally adjacent to the tops of the wicks for cutting the 5 latter upon rotation of the cutting ring.

2; A liquid fuel burner comprising a plurality of tubes each housing a' wick, a platform on which the tubes are mounted at their lower ends in an annular row, a plurality ofy sleeve members in each of which is slidable the upper end of one of the said tubes, an annular trough secured upon the upper ends of the sleeve members, the latter opening into the base of the trough to admit thereto the tops of the wicks, means for raising and lowering the platform to raise and lower the tops of the wicks in the annular trough, and an annular strip of absorbent material within the annular trough and in point contact with the tops of the wicks for absorbing fuel therefrom.

3. A liquid fuel burner as claimed in claim 2 wherein means are provided for securing the wicks in the tubes, which means comprises a thread of destructible material which is indented and wound spirally round the exterior of a wick.

4. A liquid fuel burner as claimed in claim 2, wherein each wick tube Ais indented to cooperate with a spirally wound thread upstanding from the wick.

5. A liquid fuel burner comprising a plurality of wicks, tubes for housing said wicks, a platform on which the tubes are mounted at their lowerends in an annular row, means for supporting said platform, a plurality of members in each of which is slidable the upper end of one of said tubes, means for supporting said members, an annular trough secured upon the upperends of said members, said members opening into the baseof the trough to admit thereto the tops of the wicks, and a cutting ring mounted for rotation Within the trough and having cutting edges laterally adjacent to the tops of the wicks for cutting the wicks upon rotation of the cutting ring. l

CORNELIUS GEORGE NOBBS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in th file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Y' Great Britain Jan. 3, 1935 

